This year’s San Jose Summer fest just got a little bit funkier with the recent announcement of Friday’s headliners. Performing on the main stage will be 70s funk hitmakers Cameo, San Francisco dance-fusion ensemble Afrolicious and Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born, who will be doing a special tribute to Godfather of Soul James Brown with the Jazz Mafia as his backing band.

Lyrics Born, a frequent collaborator with the Jazz Mafia and local DJ crew the Bangerz, has been a fixture of the Bay Area’s hip hop since his days with Quannum Projects in the mid 90s with collaborators Blackalicious, DJ Shadow and Lateef the Truth Speaker.

Lyrics Born’s live shows tend to be closer to a live funk band experience than the typical MC, DJ and hype man setup at most Bay Area rap shows, so it it will be interesting to see what he brings to the stage this year.

Lyrics Born:

Cameo:

Afrolicious:

Also new for this year, Gordon Biersch Brewery on San Fernando Street will host a stage featuring mostly classic jazz sounds, with a few eclectic, fusion artists in the mix.

The complete Summer Jazz schedule:

FRIDAY

Main Stage
6pm Afrolicious
8pm Cameo
9:45pm Lyrics Born presents Continuum: a Tribute to James Brown

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
7pm Gypsy Allstars: Bamboleo to Bollywood (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)
9pm The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Project (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $5 advance & gate)

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
6pm Pandit Habib Khan
8pm Round Midnight
10pm The Commanders

Jazz Beyond Stage
9pm Miles Bonny + B Lewis
11pm Mark de Clive-Low presents CHURCH

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
6:30pm Josh Jones Ensemble
8:30pm Louie Romero’s Mazacote

Swing Stage
6pm Swing Dance Lessons
7pm Sons of Jubal
9pm Swing Dance Lessons
10pm Top Shelf Big Band

Special Events
6pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
9pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage

SATURDAY

Main Stage
12pm Mingo Fishtrap
2pm Rebirth Brass Band
4pm Artura O’Farrll & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
6pm Pink Martini

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
12pm San Jose Jazz High School All Stars
2pm Raq Filipina
4pm Audiotrópico
6pm Laila Smith Quintet
9pm Yosvany Terry Quartet (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

Bank of the West Next Gen Stage
11am Dixie Dominus Traditional Jazz Band
12pm Mr. Clifford’s Young Jazz Allstars
1pm Midnight River
2pm Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band
3pm Monterey Jazz Festival Honor Vocal Jazz Ensemble
4pm Folsom High School Jazz Choir
5pm SJSU Combo

Big Easy Stage
1:30pm Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’s
4:30pm Zydeco Flames
7:30pm Frank Bey with Anthony Paule

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
12pm San Jose Jazz Allstar Big Band
2pm Slide Madness
4pm Sammy Miller & the Congregation
6pm No Bones About It
8pm Dara Tucker
10pm Bebop

Jazz Beyond Stage
8pm Audiotrópico
10:30pm Full Crate & Mar

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
12:30pm Futuro Picante
2:30pm Orquesta Soboricua
4:30pm Pa’l Bailador
6:30pm Edgardo & Candela
8:30pm Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca

San Jose Rep Stage ($10 per day)
12pm Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio
2pm Grace Kelly Quintet
4pm Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola
6pm Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
8pm Ben Vereen (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $20 advance & gate)

Silicon Valley Stage
1pm Brian Ho Trio
3pm Joel Behrman Quintet
5pm Jim Norton and Brilliant Corners Play Bill Evans
7pm Primary Colors with Nate Pruitt: a Tribute to Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Joe Williams

Swing Stage
11am Los Gatos-Saratoga Big Band
1pm Swing Dance Lessons
2pm Ron Gariffo Orchestra
4pm Swing Dance Lessons
5pm Millennium Sounds Orchestra
7pm NASA Ames Jazz Band
9pm Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestrao (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

YP Blues Stage
12pm Legally Blue
3pm Murali Coryell
6pm Tony Furtado Trio
9pm Rebirth Brass Band

Special Events
10am Latin Jazz Brunch Poolside, Fairmont Hotel ($25 sold at the door)
1pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
1:30pm Big Easy Parade, Main Stage
4pm Jazz Mass, Cathedral of St. Joseph
4pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
9pm Latin Jazz Jam with the John Santos Sextet, Bank of the West Next Gen Stage

SUNDAY

Main Stage
12pm Yosvany Terry Quartet
2pm Prservation Hall Jazz Band
4pm Javon Jackson with Les McCann and Special Guests
6pm TBA

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
12pm Aaron Lington Quartet Plays the Music of Stevie Wonder
2pm Tammy Hall Quintet
4pm Derrick Hodge
6pm Transcendental Ensemble
9pm The Cookers (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $15 advance & gate)

Bank of the West Next Gen Stage
11am Monta Vista High School Jazz Combo
12pm Archbishop Mitty Jazz in the AM
1pm Kind of Blue
2pm Room 107 Vocal Jazz Ensemble
3pm San Jose Jazz High School All STars
4pm Synchronicity
5pm VCHS Jazz Combo

Big Easy Stage
1:30pm Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
4:30pm Motordude Zydeco
7:30pm The California Honeydrops

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
12pm Gordon Biersch Big Band
2pm Times 4
4pm Natalie Cressman
6pm The JurassiC

Jazz Beyond Stage
9pm Derrick Hodge (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
12:30pm Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco
2:30pm Carlos Caro – Vission Latina
4:30pm Pellejo Seco
6:30pm Wil Campa y Su Gran Union

San Jose Rep Stage
1pm Le Jazz Hot
3pm The Cookers
5pm Stacey Kent
7pm Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Silicon Valley Stage
3pm Touch of Brass Big Band
5pm Joe DeRose and Amici
7pm Sasha Dobson Duo

Swing Stage
11am Full Spectrum
1:30pm Swing Dance Lessons
2:30pm Footnotes Big Band
4pm Swing Dance Lessons
5pm South Bay Big Band Jazz
5pm Lyratones

YP Blues Stage
12pm Livia Jean Slingerland: Youth Blues Band Contest Winner
3pm Paula Harris & the Beasts of Blues featuring the Big Ass Brass
6pm Fountain Blues All Stars

Special Events
10am Gospel Brunch, Fairmont Hotel ($35 sold at the door)
11:30am Jazz Mas, Cathedral of St. Joseph
1pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
4pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage

Josh Perkins is the “JP” in San Jose’s JP and the Rhythm Chasers. The band’s repertoire focuses on music from around WWII, with an emphasis on the various incarnations of swing that existed during that time.

It’s a genre of music that requires considerable skill, not only because timing is of utmost importance and it requires a flawless knowledge of hundreds of chords and scale variations, it all has to be done with ease and a smile. The form comes from a time when you weren’t considered a musician if you couldn’t sight-read, and it was almost rude to look down at your fretboard instead of towards the audience.

Needless to say, things have changed and that type of showmanship has disappeared from the spotlight of American popular music. It’s difficult to find the buttery-smooth chord changes that seem to fall into each other, the bouncing guitar solos that can turn on a dime, and the gabardine suits and hair held firm with pomade. Times are different, and there is nothing wrong with that, but there is something very captivating, nostalgic, and uplifting about what JP and the Rhythm Chasers do.

Josh Perkins is a third-generation guitar luthier. He works with his father and brother at C.B. Perkins, an 89 year-old business his grandfather started in San Jose. He’s even about to release a reproduction of the old DeArmond Rhythm Chief pickup that was responsible for a large portion of the electric guitar sound from the swing era. That’s probably why Josh can reach back and grab hold of the music so easily. His brother, Eric, takes care of the bass duties, playing a 1940s Kay double-bass. David Phillips backs them up on slide guitar, David Nelson keeps the drums tight, and Kevin Deibert works the saxophone.

Their dedication to authenticity is proven in how they record their work. Imagine a track recorded with one microphone, one take, with the band standing around and playing live. That’s how JP and the Rhythm Chasers do it, and they do it with a 70-year-old RCA mic.

JP and the Rhythm Chasers, \”It\’ll Be Me.\”

To see them live is even better. While some swing acts like to add more modern influences to their performances, JP and the Rhythm Chasers focus on keeping the tunes as close to what people were playing in the 30s, 40s and 50s as possible.

As Josh says, ““My philosophy has always been: let’s sound like a band of that era. We’re not going to be a carbon copy of one particular band, but let’s play within that format, within that feel “

Sure, a little Western vibe can seep out of the slide guitar, and Josh has been know to sprinkle leads ala Django over certain tunes, but it all fits together like a well-tailored suit.

It’s a rare type of music these days. The atmosphere at the shows is lively, with energetic dancing near the stage, but it also allows for intimate conversation and an overall felling that these guys are here to entertain the crowd and not vice versa. It’s the type of music that makes people want to get dressed up and be cordial. JP puts it best, “We’re all things swing.”

JP and the Rhythm Chasers will be releasing their new album in a few months. They will perform live at the Hedley Club (hotel De Anza) Saturday, May 12^th.